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St. Charles Parish honored at National Association of Counties conference

St. Charles parish officials assist at conference

St. Charles Parish Economic Development and Tourism Director Corey Faucheux, Public Works Assistant Superintendent Mel Dempster, Parish President V.J. St. Pierre Jr., and Government Buildings employees Ryder Troxler and Rowdy Bouregois served alligator sauce piqant to a crowd of more than 4,000 at the National Association of Counties’ (NACo) ‘Parade Across Louisiana’ event. NACo gathers officials and public employees from counties and parishes across the nation to share ideas and set policy initiatives.
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St. Charles Parish officials and employees lent their talents and expertise to the 79th National of Association of Counties (NACo) conference held at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center July 11 through 14, contributing to events, receiving awards and being elected to leadership positions.

The purpose of the conference, held in a different county each July, is to provide opportunities for county leaders and staff to learn, network and guide the direction of the association's national advocacy efforts. Those efforts focus on key issues important to counties such as transportation, resiliency, healthcare, criminal justice and economic development.

"We were proud to be at the table not only to learn about what our counterparts around the country are doing, but to also share innovations and achievements from our administration and council," St. Charles Parish President V.J. St. Pierre Jr. said. "In conjunction with Orleans Parish, we were able to make a very positive impression of Louisiana as a whole on the more than 2,500 conference attendees from across the country."

St. Charles Parish received a NACo Achievement Award on behalf of 10 south Louisiana parishes in the risk management category for collective public outreach efforts related to the fight to reverse unaffordable flood insurance premium increases contained in the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012. Started in 1970, the annual NACo Achievement Award program is a non-competitive awards program that recognizes innovative county government initiatives.

Public Information Officer Renee A. Simpson was also honored for her work in designing and writing the 'Be Prepared' hurricane guide. The piece was a 'best in class' winner in the brochures category of the National Association of Public Information Officers' (NACIO) Awards of Excellence program. NACIO was formed in 1966 to bring together communications professionals who wanted to share and exchange information with other county public information officers across the United States and is an affiliate group of NACo. Residents can download the guide and get more information on hurricane preparedness at www.stcharlesparish-la.gov/hurricane.

St. Charles Parish leaders also assumed leadership positions within NACo. Chief Administrative Officer Buddy Boe earlier this year was elected vice president of NACo's NextGen Network. NextGen provides a grassroots forum for young county officials to network, become engaged in NACo and develop a new generation of association leaders.

In addition, Councilman-at-Large Division B Jarvis Lewis was elected to a two-year term as secretary of the National Association of Black County Officials (NABCO). Since its founding in 1975, NABCO has provided a forum for networking, information and resource sharing, and issue advocacy on behalf of African-American elected and appointed county officials.

St. Charles Parish also took part in the conference-culminating 'Parade Across Louisiana' event held at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, which showcased food and tourism information from a majority of parishes. Parish employees conceived and executed a 'swamp camp' display booth and cooked alligator sauce piquant for thousands of attendees. The event team included St. Charles Parish Executive Secretary Anedra Coleman; Council Secretary Tiffany Clark; Economic Development and Tourism Director Corey Faucheux; Government Buildings Director Phil Dufrene and employees Rowdy Bourgeois, Ryder Troxler, Dalton Tregre and Dwayne Tregre; Public Works Assistant Superintendent Mel Dempster; Parks and Recreation Superintendent Kenny Guedry; Computer Information Systems Specialist Kimberly Cheramie; Public Information Aide Tristan Babin; and Boe.

Other accomplishments at NACo included taking part in the formation of the Gulf Coast Counties and Parishes Coalition, which was officially approved as a NACo subgroup at the annual conference. This group will continue to focus on important issues such as flood insurance and the BP RESTORE Act. In addition, NextGen hosted a service project to assemble 500 hygiene kits that were delivered to the New Orleans Mission.

The information in this article and picture were provided by the St. Charles Parish Public Information Officer Renee Allemand Simpson.